Wabtec lands Alaska Railroad PTC contracts

The Alaska Railroad has awarded the Railway Electronics division of Wabtec Corp. $16.6 million worth of contracts to provide PTC (positive train control) equipment and services, including CAD (computer-aided dispatch) and back office systems. The systems will be installed on the railroad’s 525 miles of controlled track, which are used for freight and regularly scheduled passenger service.

Under the contracts, Wabtec will provide its Interoperable Electronic Train Management System® (I-ETMS®) equipment and installation of all onboard PTC components for 54 locomotives. Wabtec’s scope of work also includes installation of its Train Management & Dispatch System® (TMDS®), a CAD system to be used for CTC (centralized traffic control) and TWC (track warrant control) for all territories, and integration of I-ETMS® with Wabtec’s back office system.

Even though the Alaska Railroad is a stand-alone operation with no physical connection to the North American railroad network, its new PTC system will nevertheless be fully interoperable with those being implemented by U.S. Class I railroads, which several years ago selected Wabtec’s ETMS technology as the de facto standard locomotive onboard PTC platform.

“Wabtec understood our needs and delivered the computer-aided dispatch that is the cornerstone of our PTC project,” said Alaska Railroad Vice President of Advanced Train Control Systems and Technology Eileen Reilly. “We look forward to our continued successful relationship as we implement I-ETMS® PTC.”

“PTC continues to be developed and deployed by freight and passenger railroads in the U.S., and this project with Alaska Railroad demonstrates the variety of capabilities we have to assist our customers,” said Wabtec Chairman and CEO Albert J. Neupaver.